FBI Views Hackers as Racketeers

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/internetcrime/2000/02/16/hackers0216_01.html

WASHINGTON (AP) [2.16.00] -- The nation's top law enforcement
officials today described "fast-developing leads" in finding the
electronic vandals who shut down major Internet sites last week.

But they also acknowledged serious challenges in the manhunt, saying
the hackers were sophisticated enough to falsify their digital
fingerprints. Attorney General Janet Reno said such a disguise
technique "makes it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to hold the
perpetrator criminally accountable."

"I would simply say that we are taking the attacks very seriously and
that we will simply do everything in our power to identify those
responsible and bring them to justice," Reno told a Senate panel.

FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, who also testified, said there were
"fast-developing leads as we speak, and hopefully we can provide more
details in coming days." He said FBI field offices in five cities have
opened investigations into the attacks: Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Atlanta, Boston and Seattle. More agents in other cities and overseas
are also involved.

A coordination problem

Reno and Freeh also conceded important shortcomings in coordinating
the myriad government agencies and public and private experts who help
investigate high-tech crimes. "We're not doing so good," admitted
Freeh, adding that cooperation was improving.

The FBI also urged Congress today to consider expanding use of federal
racketeering "RICO" laws -- traditionally used against the Mafia and
drug cartels -- to apply against organized and persistent hackers. It
also urged Congress to lower the $5,000 minimum in damages that victim
companies must suffer before attackers can be prosecuted under federal
computer crime laws.

Freeh said lawmakers should consider "whether some of this activity,
which goes beyond a single episode of fraud or hacking, gets into the
realm of enterprise criminal activity."

"RICO was intended to get gangsters," said Jennifer Granick, a
California lawyer who has represented hackers. "Now, it's getting a
bunch of kids in black concert T-shirts."

Freeh said hackers in many of last week's attacks falsified the
Internet addresses of the computers they used, "meaning that the
address that appeared on the target's log was not the true address of
the system that sent the messages."

'An insidious, organized attack'

EBay Inc. disclosed new details today about the Feb. 8 electronic
assault launched against it, which shut down the world's largest
online auction site for 90 minutes. Similar attacks disrupted other
major commercial sites, including those of Yahoo, Amazon.com, Buy.Com,
CNN and E*Trade.

EBay's lawyer, Robert Chestnut, described an "insidious, organized
attack" that was "obviously well planned." The attackers flooded
eBay's site with 10 times its normal incoming data, transmitting a
specific type of information identical to that used against Yahoo on
Feb. 7.

Chestnut told the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice,
State and Judiciary that eBay also was attacked the evening of Feb. 9,
but engineers were able to repel the second attack quickly.

The FBI is contacting several hackers, known by their online
nicknames. The bureau would not say whether its agents have talked
with any suspects, but it appeared some interviews have begun, hacker
sources said.

Transportation Department sites hit

The testimony from Reno and Freeh followed President Clinton's meeting
Tuesday with technology experts about ways to improve Internet
security. Participants said that during the talks, industry leaders
urged the government to lead by example by making its computer systems
secure.

But overnight Tuesday, a hacker vandalized at least four Web sites at
the Transportation Department, including the page for the agency's
information officer, George Molaski. Those attacks were first noted by
Attrition.Org, acomputer security Web site that records such hacks.

The computer breached by the hacker "was in the process of being
fixed," Molaski said today. "Unfortunately, they got to it before we
closed that door. It was a relatively simple vulnerability."

Also today, House Commerce Chairman Tom Bliley, R-Va., criticized
"highly vulnerable" computers at the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), urging it to shut down its Internet connection immediately,
citing an unreleased report by the General Accounting Office.

EPA spokesman David Cohen said the agency has no plans to disable
Internet access, adding that experts there have taken steps to
strengthen security of computers with sensitive information.



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